Provincially and nationally recognized youth justice expert Alan Markwart is British Columbia’s Ministry of Children and Family Development’s new, permanent Assistant Deputy Minister for Child and Youth Mental Health and Youth Justice. He joined MCFD in 1997 as Manager of Justice Services.

Entering the field as a field probation officer in 1973 Alan moved on to lead provincial policy, planning and training for implementation of the (then) new Young Offenders Act.

After becoming Director of Program Analysis for the Attorney General Ministry's Corrections Branch and Director of the Victoria Youth Custody Centre, he then served in secondments for a national research study and for a national task force report on youth justice.

Alan's academic accomplishments include authoring or co-authored chapters on youth justice in several books and publishing several academic journal articles.

A 1999 study of scholarly leaders published in the British Journal of Criminology cited Alan as the fourth most frequently cited scholar in Canada in the general (adult and youth) field of criminology in Canada.

Alan has a Bachelor of Arts degree (Psychology), a Teaching Certificate and a Masters Degree in Criminology.

Married for 25 years, Alan is the adoptive father of two children with special needs who are now young adults.